


Carry Me

by floraltohru



Series: Embrace By Proxy [2]
Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Curse Breaking, F/M, Fluff, Hugs, M/M, OT3, Polyamory, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23691991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floraltohru/pseuds/floraltohru
Summary: Once again, everyone needs a hug.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou, Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou/Sohma Yuki, Honda Tohru/Sohma Yuki, Sohma Kyou/Sohma Yuki
Series: Embrace By Proxy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706155
Comments: 18
Kudos: 181





	Carry Me

**Author's Note:**

> We stan an OT3, no squinting required.
> 
> Will definitely make more sense if you read "Humor Me."

Tohru has to work after school. That's nothing new, she usually does, but as of late it's been making Kyo feel some type of way he can't quite put a finger on. Usually, he makes the journey home by himself on the days when she works, but today he has company.  


Well, today he's walking home at the same time as someone else who also happens to be going in the same direction. On further inspection, he doesn't know if he'd call that company.  


Yuki is more sullen and sulky than usual, shoulders hunched and pale features pulled into a deep frown. Hang on, wasn't he supposed to meet with the student council this afternoon?  


"Weren't you supposed to meet with the student council this afternoon?" Kyo asks him.  


Yuki shoots him a look that could slice diamond. "Don't ask."  


"Alright, jeez." Kyo kicks at a pebble in his path, watching as it skitters out into the street. "Forget I said anything."  


"Sorry," Yuki says, and it sounds so foreign coming out of his mouth that for a moment, Kyo isn't sure if they're actually speaking the same language.  


"It's fine," he says once the shock has worn off.  


They continue walking in silence, Kyo pausing every so often to kick another pebble in his path, and Yuki gripping the straps of his backpack like it's done something to personally offend him.  


It's a nice day out, Kyo notes when they reach the forest that marks the edge of the Sohma property. The early evening sun streams through the leaves, glimmering like stained glass. It casts Yuki in an ethereal verdant glow. He looks otherworldly and sort of - Kyo is reluctant to admit - princely. He chuckles to himself.  


"What?" Yuki furrows his brow when he looks at Kyo, still grimacing. He stops in his path, the fill force of his attention focused on glaring at Kyo. "What's so funny?"  


"You kind of look like an alien, with the light hitting you like that," Kyo tells him. As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he expects a swift kick, or at least a shove.  


But Yuki blinks, taken aback, and then laughs. Just a soft, low chuckle. "Is that right?"  


Kyo feels blushes in spite of himself. Is Yuki laughing at him? "Yeah, and it looks super weird."  


"Sure," Yuki says, but Kyo can tell he doesn't believe him.  


They finish the trudge up the stairs and through the yard in silence, Kyo drinking in the warm late spring air. He bumps into Yuki, distracted, while Yuki takes his shoes off at the door.  


"Watch where you're going," Yuki sighs, but there's not as much vitriol as there would have been even just a few weeks ago. "Tohru already trips over everything, someone needs to stay upright." Hang on, it's almost as if he - cares? About Kyo? That's impossible, Kyo thinks. Why would the rat ever care about the cat?  


"I won't make you talk about it," Kyo blurts out. Damn it. He really intended to try for something a little more eloquent.  


"Huh?" Yuki stares at him, still holding one shoe, perplexed.  


"Whatever you're upset about. We can if you want, but we don't have to talk about it."  


Yuki keeps staring, and Kyo is starting to worry that he's fallen asleep standing up. It wouldn't be the first time.  


"I don't think I want to talk about it."  


"Fine," Kyo says, and he feels Yuki's eyes on him like a physical weight. Has his stare always been that intense? "I won't ask. This is me, not talking about it. See? I said we didn't have to, so. We won't."  


"You're babbling," Yuki says. "It's almost endearing."  


And is that tenderness there, hidden behind his prim disposition? And maybe a hint of something else?  


Kyo isn't doing it for Tohru this time. Well, maybe a little bit, inasmuch as almost everything he does is for Tohru. But she's not even there, though she probably has some kind of crazy sixth sense that alerts her when stuff like this happens.  


He pulls Yuki in for a hug, and it's almost not awkward. They've sort of gotten the hang of what to do with their arms, mostly, and he feels a pang in his chest when Yuki rests his forehead on Kyo's shoulder.  


"Thanks," Yuki murmurs. "For not talking about it."  


"Yeah," Kyo says, forcing his words out. "Any time."  


After they break apart, they avoid eye contact and spread their homework out on the table, Yuki frowning over his arithmetic and Kyo trying to parse out his history essay. Kyo pretends not to notice that Yuki is sitting closer than he normally does, pretends that his nerves don't light up like a live wire every time they brush up against each other.  


When he finally slams his history book shut, the sun is beginning to set.  


"Hey, come on," he says, reaching out a hand to help Yuki up off the floor. "Let's go get Tohru."  


She holds both of their hands all the way home. 

It's like getting splashed with a bucket of ice water on a hot summer day, or being punched in the face, or taking a deep breath of clean air for the first time ever, or having his feet kicked out from under him and the wind knocked out of him at the dojo.  


It's everything, all at once.  


He has never felt so much.  


When the curse breaks, every cell in Kyo's body knows it on instinct. It's a fact. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the curse is broken.  


He can have the thing he'd never let himself dream of having.  


Kyo runs, runs and doesn't once consider stopping, runs like his life depends on it.  


He doesn't know how far or how long he runs, just that he couldn't stop if he wanted to - and he doesn't want to.  


She's standing in the hall, a basket of laundry on her hip, smiling idly, unaware that the very foundation of his whole universe has just been shattered and reassembled, rebuilt into something new, molded into something better.  


"Tohru!" he calls.  


"Kyo? What's -" but Kyo knocks the words out of her when he nearly tackles her in a hug.  


He screws his eyes shut, waiting for the change, waiting for the universe to laugh in his face, waiting for his luck to turn again.  


But it doesn't happen. He's still him, he's still Kyo, not Kyo the cat, not Kyo the monster, just. Kyo.  


And he's hugging Tohru, and he's not letting go, and he's holding her in his very, very human arms and pressing soft kisses to her forehead and breathing in the scent of her shampoo.  


"Does this mean…?" she starts, her eyes glistening. She pulls back to hold his face in her hands. "Kyo?"  


"Yeah," he says, leaning into her touch. "I think it does."  


"What about-"  


They both turn when Yuki bursts through the front door like a madman, looking flushed and sweaty and altogether unprincely. He opens his mouth to say something, but the words slip from his mind when Kyo grabs him by the arm and yanks him into their embrace.  


He flinches, preparing for the worst, and letting out a soft, incredulous laugh when it doesn't happen. Yuki is still Yuki, Kyo is still Kyo, and they're both wrapped around Tohru without consequence.  


Tohru is crying in earnest now, an adorable blubbering mess between her two boys, her hands clasping at them to pull them both closer, years of yearning for their touch finally realized. Yuki buries his face in her hair, tears welling in his own eyes, and Kyo clings to both of them like he's afraid they'll all disintegrate if he lets go.  


He doesn't realize he's crying too until a weepy Tohru gasps and wipes a tear from his cheek.  


It just makes him want to hold her tighter.  


At some point, Tohru stumbles over someone's feet - probably her own - and the three of them end up on the floor in a hysterical heap, crying and laughing and trying to remember if they've ever felt this complete.  


"Come on," she murmurs after what feels like several lifetimes of drinking in their touch. "Let's go make dinner."  


In the kitchen, Yuki laces his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder while she and Kyo prep the vegetables. When they're done eating, Kyo slings an arm around each of them while they do the dishes. Tohru revels, blissfully, in their embrace, stopping every once in a while to throw her arms around one or both of them, just because she can. 

When Shigure finally arrives home long after the sun has set, more than one of his suspicions is confirmed. He smiles, because it genuinely makes him happy, but mostly because Ayame is going to owe him money. He tosses a blanket over the tangle of teenagers curled around each other on the floor and tries not to wake them as he makes his way to bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me as @floraltohru on Tumblr.


End file.
